Manhattan has collaborated with Maker’s Mark to launch its new custom-finished, limited-edition Manhattan Maker’s Mark bourbon.
We go to award-winning cocktail bar Manhattan at Regent Singapore for many reasons: their excellent cocktails themed after the storied histories of the different districts in New York City for one, and its fabulously drunken decadent Sunday cocktail brunches for another.
Now there’s one more reason to. Manhattan has worked together with Maker’s Mark to create a special bourbon expression for the bar – the first for a bar in Asia. Created under the Kentucky-based bourbon producer’s Private Select programme, the Manhattan Maker’s Mark Private Select Bourbon undergoes an additional maturation process using different proprietary wood staves. For Manhattan’s customised expression, the Manhattan bar and floor team selected a combination of 10 wood-finishing staves from Maker’s Mark’s selection of five proprietary staves – Baked American Pure, Seared French Cuvée, Maker’s Mark 46, Roasted French Mocha, and Toasted French Spice – to be aged for a further six months inside the barrel.
The Maker’s Mark Private Select takes a leaf from the making of its Maker’s Mark 46 wood-finishing technique; that expression sees 10 seared virgin French oak staves inserted into the barrel for an additional finishing of nine weeks. This process is rather different from the Scotch whisky industry’s approach to cask finishing. In that process, new-make first aged in one oak barrel type before being transferred to a different oak barrel type. Bourbon cannot be finished using the Scotch version of cask maturation, as by law bourbon has got to be aged in charred virgin American oak barrels. Inserting staves of different toasting levels into the barrel gets round that restriction, and adds another level of complexity to the bourbon.
The collaboration has yielded a total of 240 bottles of the limited edition bourbon; it joins the bar’s extensive American whiskey range offerings, and will also be put into use in its innovative cocktail programme. A limited number of this Maker’s Mark will also be made available by bottle to the public at the price of $288++.
“Since its inception in 2014, Manhattan has been the paragon of craft bartending with our well-researched cocktails. Maker’s Mark is an ideal partner for us because it is an iconic American bourbon whiskey that is synonymous with quality and celebrated for its flavour,” said David Nguyen-Luu, Bar Manager of Manhattan.
“I’m excited to elevate our spirits program with this exclusive partnership, and I’m confident that the Manhattan Maker’s Mark Private Select Bourbon will appeal to our sophisticated clientele who are seeking the best in fine drinking experiences.”
The Manhattan Maker’s Mark Private Select Bourbon will be officially launched at the cocktail bar’s American Whiskey Embassy session on 25 March 2020.
